Published: May 10, 2013 at 2:26 pm

Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B)’s stock choices are always interesting. Whether it be from his managers or his direct purchases.

There are a lot of books about Warren Buffett and how he selects stocks. This is both good and bad because there are good books, and just as many bad books.

His annual Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) letters provide qualitative information but never anything concrete. It’s left up to you to comb through his words and put bits and pieces together to come up with a firmer picture.

It really is a shame that Buffett does not write his own book.

Analyzing the Strategies of Gurus

I bring this up because I like to reverse engineer the strategies of the gurus and other well known value and investing master minds to see how it works.

For all the books and articles out there, there is no clear guideline on how Buffett and Berkshire select stocks. The key difference between Buffett and other gurus is that he has never clearly stated his process or checklist.

As strange as it might sound, Buffett is like my mother.

Growing up, when I asked her how much salt I needed to put into the stew, she would answer the way most mothers or good cooks do.

“Just enough” she would say with a knowing smile.

In the same way, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) and Buffett make a lot of decisions based on instinct and pattern recognition which is something he can’t truly quantify and something that you and I have trouble grasping.

He doesn’t run spreadsheets (unfortunate because I would beg him to endorse mine haha) or perform valuation calculations. And because of this, many value investors and authors have sought out to come up with their own ideas on how Buffett chooses stocks.

How Buffett Chooses Stocks to Invest In

This AAII article from 1998 goes into great detail of the types of companies that Buffett likes to invest in. It’s 4 pages of full text so if you don’t want to read it, I’ve grabbed the most important section from the paper. Aside from the obvious Buffett mantra of invest in businesses, it discusses in good detail, the selection criteria for Buffett stocks.

The Warren Buffett Stock Picking Approach

Buffett’s Philosophy and style

Investment in stocks based on their intrinsic value, where value is measured by the ability to generate earnings and dividends over the years. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B)’s Buffett targets successful businesses—those with expanding intrinsic values, which he seeks to buy at a price that makes economic sense, defined as earning an annual rate of return of at least 15% for at least five or 10 years.

Universe of Stocks

No limitation on stock size, but analysis requires that the company have been in existence for a considerable period of time.

Criteria for Initial Consideration

Consumer monopolies, selling products in which there is no effective competitor, either due to a patent or brand name or similar intangible that makes the product unique. In addition, he prefers companies that are in businesses that are relatively easy to understand and analyze, and that have the ability to adjust their prices for inflation.

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